Written by

Gary Stern and Elizabeth Ganga

WHITE PLAINS — During a raucous afternoon Friday at the Michaelian Office Building, a coalition of two Democrats and seven Republicans passed a compromise 2013 Westchester County budget after the remaining Democrats walked out of the meeting.

But the remaining Democrats on the county Board of Legislators don’t recognize the vote and said they sent the budget back to the Budget and Appropriations Committee and adjourned the meeting. Board Chairman Ken Jenkins, D-Yonkers, walked out with seven other Democrats.

After that, the coalition appointed a temporary clerk and nominated Republican Minority Leader James Maisano as temporary chairman of the board.

Then, in a 9-0 vote, they passed a $1.7 billion compromise budget. They applauded after the vote.

“The 2013 budget for the county of Westchester has been passed,” Maisano said. “Great job, legislators.”

County Executive Rob Astorino signed the budget Friday evening. He called it a “good, reasonable” budget that met his objectives, including not raising the tax levy. He praised the courage of Legislators Virginia Perez, D-Yonkers, and Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers, who voted with the Republicans, and said he didn’t like the “antics” of the eight Democrats.

“It’s not supposed to be if you lose you take your ball and you go home,” he said.

Jenkins said he will continue with the original budget process and await suggestions for compromise from Astorino. If Astorino doesn’t respond, he said, the board could try to adopt a budget with spending maintained at 2012 levels, producing two competing budgets.

“They can believe what they like, but there is no budget that has been adopted by the board,” Jenkins said. “We were willing to compromise, but their answer was to try to hijack the process.”

Majority Leader Peter Harckham, D-Katonah, said the actions by the Republicans, Perez and Kaplowitz “were despicable and made a mockery of the legislative process.”

“The meeting was lawfully ended,” Harckham said. “There is no meeting.” He said it was embarrassing for a longtime legislator like Kaplowitz to sign on to such a “bizarre piece of political theater.”

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The meeting started with procedural confusion as legislators voted unanimously to suspend certain rules. Then legislator and budget chair Judy Myers, D-Mamaroneck, said she was sending the majority’s budget back to committee. Jenkins adjourned the meeting, and most of the Democrats walked out.

Republicans contended that the board had voted to suspend the rule allowing Myers to “recommit” the budget.

The Democratic majority made the coalition’s continued meeting uncomfortable, having the lights and microphones in the chamber turned off. The alarm to call legislators to the chamber also rang throughout the meeting. The remaining legislators managed to get the lights back on.

Before the board meeting, Kaplowitz explained his decision to join the Republicans on the budget by saying that his fellow Democrats were unwilling to compromise.

“They just said, ‘We will do exactly what we want,’” Kaplowitz said.

Perez said she was threatened with a primary challenge if she didn’t come into line.

“I was elected to serve the people of my district and the county, and if my Democratic colleagues don’t like it, I’m very sorry,” Perez said.

Kaplowitz and Perez met with Republicans this week as the budget was taking shape, and the final Republican proposal included their priorities, they said, including reducing the cost for families in the county’s subsidized child-care programs and restoring nature center curators.

The compromise budget keeps a flat property-tax levy, takes no money from reserves and restores 28 jobs cut in Astorino’s proposal. It adds $3.9 million for low-income day care to allow a 27 percent parent share, which splits the difference between proposals by Astorino and the Democratic majority.

On Thursday, the Democratic majority took a provocative stand by proposing to balance the $1.7 billion budget by cutting 57 jobs they said were patronage positions, including several from the county executive’s office. Astorino threatened to veto the entire budget to keep the Democrats’ proposal from going through.

Democrats said the cuts let them restore 126 positions filled by professionals who keep the county running that Astorino had eliminated in his proposed budget.